Vote splitting as insurance against uncertainty

The present article offers a rational choice explanation for political tick et splitting. It considers a game-theoretic model of voting and bargaining within Congress and between Congress and the president. When parties are id eologically oriented and voters' utilities are state dependent, the model s hows that if there is uncertainty about the true state of the world, ticket splitting emerges as a tool risk-averse voters use in order to insure them selves against extreme policies in bad states of nature.